Authorities try to determine why Venice canal turned green
Italian authorities are investigating the causes of the abnormal water pigmentation around the monumental Rialto Bridge.
The water in Venice’s main canal has turned a fluorescent green in the area near Italy’s famous Rialto Bridge as authorities try to determine the cause.
Italy’s fire service posted video on Sunday as one of its boats sailed on phosphorescent waters. “The green-colored Grand Canal is what the fire department found this morning when we intervened with ARPAV to collect samples and analyze this anomalous color,” it said.
#28maggio #VeniceCanal Grande colorato di verde en quello che hanno costatato questa mattina i #vigilidelfuoco intervenuti intimate advertisement @arpaveneto per dei prelievi per analizzare la colorazione anomala #soccorsiquotidiani pic.twitter.com/tzKoQqEXvx
— VigilFuoco Veneto (@vvfveneto) May 28, 2023
ARPAV, Veneto’s regional environmental protection agency, said it had received samples of the altered water and was in the process of identifying the substance that changed color.
The prefect of Venice has called an emergency meeting of police forces to understand what happened and to study possible countermeasures, the ANSA news agency reported.
The incident mirrors recent episodes in Italy where environmental groups have been coloring monuments. However, unlike previous cases, no activist group has come forward to claim responsibility for what happened in Venice.
Last week, environmentalists climbed Rome’s Trevi Fountain and poured black liquid obtained from diluted vegetable charcoal into the water.
The group of about 10 people also stood in the fountain with a banner reading “We Won’t Pay for Fossil Fuels”, a reference to the campaign to end government investment and fossil fuel subsidies.
In March, activists sprayed orange paint over the walls of the Palazzo Vecchio, home to Florence’s city hall, to emphasize the need to fight the climate crisis.
The waters of Venice had already turned green once before in 1968, during the international art exhibition La Biennale in Venice, when Argentine artist Nicolas Garcia Uriburu spilled non-toxic, bright green fluorescent sodium into the Grand Canal.
The pigment turned bright green when synthesized by microorganisms in the water as part of an artistic initiative to draw attention to deteriorating water pollution.